Avatar: The Next Cycle
by canadiannotamerican
Summary: Set in both a modern and futuristic setting, this story follows the pursuits of two avatars who, despite living in different times, discover themselves fighting the same foe: a corporation that is determined to mine the world of as much platinum as it can for its own technological advancements. Unfortunately, these two avatars can only look back as far as Korra for guidance.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: While this does take place many years after The Legend of Korra and I did come up with many of the characters on my own, the world is not mine and the characters are influenced by the previous series. I'm playing in the Avatar sandbox quite liberally here, but I still do not own it.

* * *

It was 91 years before the birth of Avatar Zhong that I lost the connection to my past lives. It was one of many hardships I struggled with as a teenager, but eventually I knew that the cycle must go on, and I became at peace with it. The world was changing, and Korra would be synonymous with "new" and "modern". I always thought it would be Aang that would be remembered by the future, but it was _my_ face that was plastered all over the world for generations to come. The joys of being born in a world of photography and movers I guess.

I can't say that my life ran smoothly after my talk with Kuvira. There was a lot that needed to be smoothed out between humans and spirits in order for us to live harmoniously. That's how I spent the rest of my life. I stopped some civil disputes and I helped spirits and humans understand each other better. But mostly I just spent time with my family.

The kids grew up, and eventually moved out. We were together, then we were apart, and eventually our family grew even more. Asami and I treasured our grandkids when we had the chance to see them, but the empty nest hit us hard. Technology was advancing and it was an exciting distraction for some time. Eventually though, I found myself living entirely alone. After that, even technology couldn't distract me anymore.

I knew it was time for me to move on.

But this story isn't the legend of Avatar Korra. This is the legend of Zhong, and the legend of Heiwa. It's the legend of Platicorp and Yoa Computers. After me there were two avatars that found themselves fighting the same foe, even if they were born in different times. Two avatars who could only look back as far as me and think...

_What came before Korra?_


	2. Avatar Zhong

Lightning flashed across the sky as the rain pelted his stubby arms. Zhong glared at the older man standing across the grounds from him. His master was aging, grey hairs in a well kept braid that ran down his back. Zhong had similarly braided hair, but he didn't care to maintain it in such conditions. He stomped his feet in the muddy ground and clenched his fists.

"It's too wet out!" he shouted to his master. "We can't train like this!"

Master Li laughed and launched another rock into the air above his head. "Are you joking? We can't afford _not_ to train like this!"

Zhong growled and prepared himself for another attack. After ten years of training with Master Lan Chang, it seemed odd that Zhong's parents had been so willing to replace one master with another. Master Lan had been a great instructor, and Zhong couldn't think of anything that would have made his parents dislike him. Besides, Master Li pushed too hard. And for what? So Zhong could be a better earthbender?

Soon the two of them were flinging muddy rocks at each other. Zhong's hair was already plastered to his face, and his messy braid clung to the back of his black vest in sticky strands. His pants were coated in mud, as were his bare feet.

Zhong _hated_ going barefoot.

Master Li tried to soften the already muddy ground beneath Zhong's feet, but the teenager hardened a spot next to himself and sidestepped the sinkhole. He quickly stomped forwards and yanked his hands back, catching the master from behind with a well placed boulder. Master Li was flung forward and landed face first in the mud.

When he got up again, the older man raised his hands in surrender. "You got me. An old man should be able admit defeat when faced with it."

Zhong stood at ease, clearing his upper body of some of the mud with his earthbending. "Are we done now?" he asked. "I'd really rather not catch pneumonia. Or get hit by lightning."

"Fine," Master Li said as he approached his student. "Let's both get inside before we catch our deaths. Besides, I have some work that needs to get done."

The two of them trudged across the estate in silence. Zhong never felt he had anything to say to his new master, and Master Li seemed to spend an awful lot of his time examining his student. If student was even the right word. Zhong was pretty sure he surpassed Master Li in both power and skill, which made it even more baffling that his parents at let the man replace Lan for a whole month now.

Zhong huffed as they climbed the steps to his front door, but Master Li quickly clamped a hand on his shoulder. "Best clean ourselves up before going inside. I'm sure your parents wouldn't want us muddying up their halls while they're away at work."

"My mother's an earthbender. If she hates it so much, she can clean it up herself." But even as he complained, Zhong shucked what was left of the mud covering his clothes before stepping through the front door into the main hall. There was nothing he could do about the water though, and he found himself leaving a trail as he trudged up the stairs at the end of the hall towards the bedrooms. Master Li had melded into another part of the house, and with any luck, Zhong wouldn't see him for the rest of the day.

The young earthbender grabbed a towel out of his en-suite and ruffled it through his hair before changing out of his wet clothes. His room was still a mess from earlier when Zhong had lost track of his pocketphone and had turned over every piece of furniture in search of it. It was now sitting on his desk, on top of a large pile of long-forgotten homework. Once changed, he grabbed the phone and slipped back down the stairs to the main floor.

Zhong continued down the back hall, past the dining room and kitchen, and slipped out a back door, where he found sheltered steps leading underground. He followed the steps into a carved out tunnel, lit by sparkle lights he'd hooked up to a generator further down the hall. This was Zhong's earth den: a home within his home he had made long ago and had somehow pressured his wealthy parents into keeping powered.

When he reached the end of the hall he was greeted by a large, black nose poking him in the chest. He pushed it away in annoyance, before giving into the insistent nudge and patting the nose affectionately. "Okay Digger, give me some space."

He looked into the sightless eyes of his badgermole friend and smiled, remembering when they had found each other in the Avatar Aang Zoo in Ba Sing Se. She had only been born a month before his visit, and had followed him back and forth along the glass until he eventually convinced his parents to let him take her home. "A badgermole is not a pet," his father had said. "It's a wild animal." But Zhong didn't consider Digger his pet. She was his friend.

Zhong walked past Digger and grabbed the remote for his TV off of a table he had shoved up against the wall next to the grumbling generator. Digger curled up on the ground, her warm side facing the TV in just a way that Zhong could lean against her and watch TV with his feet propped up on a small mound of earth he'd constructed. He flipped through the channels for a bit before settling on a cartoon with talking robots.

Cosy against the fur of his badgermole friend, Zhong pulled out his phone and switched between casually watching cartoons, and texting his girlfriend, Ning.

_Ning: Li still overly enthusiastic?_

Zhong smiled. He'd kept Ning updated on his new teacher over the past month and she was just as baffled about him as Zhong was.

_Zhong: Sure is. Just had us practicing in the rain for a whole hour._

_Ning: You won't come down with something and miss the game tomorrow, will you?_

Ning was an airbender on her school's bending games team. She was a strong athlete, and it was one of the things that he admired so much about her. Zhong loved watching his girlfriend play.

_Zhong: Even if I come down with something I'll still be there._

_Ning: Good :)_

Zhong continued to text Ning well into the night, ranting about his bending frustrations, and listening in turn to his girlfriend's coach troubles. Eventually he ran out of cartoons to watch and he retreated back into the house, ready to turn in. But his parents had returned at some point while he was in his den and they were talking with Master Li in the sitting room off the side of the main hall.

Zhong didn't even hesitate to listen in. His parents had been really weird about Master Li and it was about damn time Zhong knew what was going on.

"I've had plenty of time to study his skills and I would have to agree. Your son has all but mastered earthbending. I'm not sure there's anything for me to teach him." Zhong nodded. Damn straight.

"Are you sure. Nothing at all?" his mother asked. There was something in her voice. Fear maybe?

"I'm afraid not. It's time for Zhong to move forwards. I believe he would be a good candidate for metalbending."

Zhong heard his mother sigh in relief. "There's a metalbending school in the upper ring. I can arrange for him to begin classes-"

"No."

There was silence in the room for a moment. "What do you mean, no?" That was his father.

"The avatar needs a master. The metalbending school will not give him what he needs."

Zhong's breath hitched. What did he just say? The avatar? Who was the avatar? Not Zhong, surely. He couldn't bend anything but earth. He'd heard Avatar Korra could bend all the elements except air by the time she was four. But... who else could they be talking about? They'd said his name. He was the only other person in the house.

Zhong felt lightheaded and backed away from the sitting room door. He stumbled into a table, knocking over the glass stereo system they had set up in the main hall. He couldn't breathe and barely registered the shards of broken glass on the floor beneath him, or the shocked voices of his parents as his eyes rolled into the back of his head.

"Zhong!" he heard his father call.

"He heard us..." said his mother. And that was the last thing he remembered that night.

_Feinting when he found out he was the avatar was not one of the things about Zhong that would go on to be put in history books, but the fact was that it came as a shock to him. He'd done his studies, which unfortunately focussed an awful lot on me, Avatar Korra, and Zhong didn't feel he fit the bill. He didn't feel a connection, much like I didn't with Aang. In truth, we were more similar than he realized. It would just take him time to figure it out._


	3. Avatar Heiwa

"I got Korra Kakes!"

_Unfortunately, by this point in history, I had been reduced to product placement. The Avatar Cake line consisted of Korra, Kyoshi, and Kuruk Kakes, which each had different fillings. There were also Roku Ricekakes, and Aang Applekakes. Being fresh to the history books, Zhong had been spared this particular humiliation. It was a prosperous time, but Avatar Heiwa wasn't privy to this fortune. She was also somewhat... misinformed, on matters related to the avatar._

"Man, I was hoping for the ricekakes," Kiviuq muttered. His eldest sister glared, tin of Korra Kakes in hand.

"You know I don't buy food that isn't on sale," Pikatti said. "We can't exactly afford to be picky."

Heiwa rolled her eyes. Her twin sister could get very defensive about their financial situation. Although, considering the entire family was sitting around a fire bin in a rundown back ally next to a smelly recycling chute, she really couldn't blame her. As she glanced at the cake tin in her sister's grubby gloved hand the electronic picture moved, and Avatar Korra winked at her.

"Let him be," Heiwa said. "Kiviuq's allowed to have favourite foods, even if he doesn't always get them. It doesn't mean he isn't happy to even _have_ something to eat. Right?" At this, she nudged her brother hard in the ribs. He grunted and their other siblings laughed.

"Yup," Kiviuq said through gritted teeth as his eldest sister eyed him warily. "Thanks for the Korra Kakes."

This seemed to satisfy Pikatti, and she began to hand the cakes to her siblings. Heiwa leaned affectionately against her younger brother after receiving her cake. "I like Roku Ricekakes too. There's just something about him," she said quietly, so her sister wouldn't hear.

"He's a face on a tin. What's there to like?" Kiviuq laughed. "I just like the cakes, not the faces." Heiwa punched him in the arm and he tried to squirm away, but unfortunately their other brother, Nami, was on the other side.

"Quit shoving," Nami said. He had papaya filling on his chin and both Kiviuq and Heiwa laughed while their brother did his best to self-consciously wipe it off. "You two are impossible," he grumbled, wiping the filling on his already filthy pants.

On Heiwa's other side, their younger sister, Ko, was crisping her cake with some well controlled firebending. For a twelve-year-old, she was fairly talented and often Heiwa found herself envying the amount of time Ko had to practice her bending. She was also filled with great ideas, and Heiwa liked the looks of what she was doing. Their youngest sibling, Massak, held out his cake to his sister to be crisped as well. Heiwa dangled her own cake from two fingers and mimicked Ko's actions, crisping the cake in seconds. Unfortunately those were the absolute worst seconds to show off her firebending skills.

"I thought you were the waterbender," said a voice from the mouth of the ally. Heiwa froze, before slowly turning to see Chun and her gang glaring at the group of sibling.

Chun took care of a sizable group of orphans in this particular part of the city. Shortly after Heiwa's parents died, the woman had offered to take them in, provided they helped... financially. Chun's methods of obtaining money were not favourable to the older twins, who had inherited the responsibility of taking care of their four younger siblings at the young age of fourteen. Heiwa and Pikatti had declined, and Chun had made it her goal in life to ensure none of the siblings practiced their busking in any part of the city that would make them decent money.

Heiwa swallowed thickly. "No. I'm the firebender," she said. "That's me. Pikatti. The firebender."

Pikatti, still standing on the other side of the fire pit, spoke up quickly. "I know we're identical, but that's no excuse to confuse us," she said. She gave Heiwa a quick glare and the other woman shrugged. It was lucky they chose to sport the same black double braid for their act or Chun might not actually fall for it.

"Of course," Chun said, her voice dripping with distain. "You're Pikatti. My apologies. I always get the two of you confused. It's not like I thought you were the avatar or anything."

"Avatar?" It was Kiviuq who spoke this time. "Like the cake tin guys?"

Chun looked at him incredulously and the teenaged orphans behind her burst out laughing. "You know. Avatar? Master of all four elements? You can't be that dense."

Heiwa shared a glance with her brother. As far as she knew, the Avatar was a mascot for cakes. Nothing more. What was Chun talking about?

"Is that... unusual?" she ventured. "Mastering more than one element?"

Chun gaped at the six people in front of her. The laughter from her gang only doubled. "Wow," she said, finally. "You are all idiots."

Heiwa scoffed. "Look, I'm sorry. We didn't go to school. We're street kids!"

"So are they," Chun gestured to the teenagers behind her. "But they still know what the avatar is. And they certainly know a lot more about bending than you do." It was true. Chun made sure her orphans could fight with their bending, if they had any. Heiwa and her siblings were lucky to figure any of it out since there wasn't anyone to train them. Not now that their parents were dead.

"Could you just tell us why you're here and get going?" Pikatti said. Clearly she wasn't pleased with Chun's presence and Heiwa could only agree that the less time they spent with the gang leader, the better. The laughter behind Chun died down to an occasional chuckle from one boy who looked like he just couldn't get over how ignorant they were.

"Riiight. I just came to tell you that you two," Chun pointed at Pikatti and Heiwa, "can't bend on Jung Street anymore."

"What?!" Heiwa almost dropped her Korra Kake. "But that's our best street! And we still don't make much from it!"

Chun shrugged. "Ya well, we found a way to use it better. It's ours now. You street rats are gonna have to look somewhere else."

Nami stood up, glaring full force at the group in front of them. Heiwa could see him starting up fire in his hands and she shook her head quickly. They couldn't get in a fight with Chun's gang. Chun's gang was better than them. Pikatti placed a hand on her brother's arm. "Nami, sit down. If Chun doesn't want us on Jung Street, we'll just have to find another place to busk. He- Pikatti and I will do just fine."

Nami snorted, but he sat down quietly. Chun grinned. "Good. Glad we're agreed."

"Now leave," Pikatti said, fixing the gang leader with a glare. Chun gave them all a warning look before turning from the ally. Her gang followed.

When the six of them were finally alone, Pikatti picked up a rock and threw it at her sister.

"Ow!" Heiwa shouted. "I'm sorry, okay?"

"You just _had_ to firebend! There are three other firebenders sitting around you and you felt the need to do it yourself. _I'm _the firebender! You're. The waterbender. _Water. Bender._" Heiwa tried to back away, but the metal box she was sitting on refused to meld into the wall behind her. She settled for throwing her arms up in front of her to protect her face from another barrage of rocks her sister had picked up from the ground.

"I'm sorry," Heiwa whined. "Ko was helping Massak, and you an Nami were just soooo far away. I didn't think-"

"You can't be so careless! Remember what mom said? They'll take you away!"

"Mom was crazy!" Heiwa cried. "She wore a garbage bag on her head!"

Pikatti narrowed her eyes. "Mom loved us," she said in a dangerously low voice. "How dare you."

"Pikatti, we're twenty. Nobody's taking me away!"

"Stop fighting."

Heiwa and Pikatti both turned to see Massak fiddling with his half eaten Korra Kake. The ten-year-old refused to look at either of them, instead opting to glare at the ground. "And please don't say anymore bad things about mom. That's not how I want to remember her."

Heiwa deflated and Pikatti stopped throwing rocks. "Sorry," they both said in unison. Pikatti picked up the cake tin again and took out the last one for herself. "Let's just drop it then."

They ate the rest of their food in silence. Nami poked the fire at some point to keep it going, but it wasn't until everyone had finished their meagre meal that anyone spoke again. It was Kiviuq who broke the silence.

"So, the Avatar isn't really some master bender. Right? It's just a face on a tin."

Heiwa shrugged. "I know as much as you do. We went to the same school."

"You mean no school?" Nami offered with a glare.

"Okay," Kiviuq continued. "But can you imagine mastering _four_ types of bending? I can barely imagine mastering one!"

"So... that's unusual. Right?" Heiwa asked. She looked at all of her siblings, but none of them would make eye contact. "Guys?"

"Heiwa..." Pikatti finally said. "You're the only person we have _ever_ seen bend more than one element. It's definitely weird. That's why mom and dad..." She trailed off into silence.

When Heiwa had first figured out she could bend both water and fire, her parents had put their foot down that she wasn't allowed to bend at all. Pikatti was allowed to bend fire, and when Nami found out he was a firebender they didn't do a thing. Even when Kiviuq had picked up the basics of water bending and Ko showed she was a bender as well, they still didn't say a word. But if Heiwa bent anything she got a stern scolding. Her parents made it clear that if she slipped up, if anyone saw that she could bend more than one element, she would be taken away. And none of them wanted that.

It wasn't until after their parents died that she started waterbending in front of others. She and Pikatti had an act. People thought it was really interesting to see two identical twins bend two different elements. It was their most effective way of making money. But Heiwa had to _swear_ she would only bend water.

Heiwa fell asleep that night wondering about the avatar. She never thought much about the people on her food tins, but for some reason she couldn't get them out of her head that night. It was so bad, that when she found herself dreaming, Korra Kakes Korra was standing there next to some short, middle aged man with a long black braid.

"You can't be serious," the man said. "You know who we are, right?"

"Zhong, be nice," Korra said, putting a hand on the man's shoulder. She looked younger than she did on the cake tin for some reason. Heiwa thought that was odd. "You're her guide. Act like it."

"Who are you?" Heiwa asked him.

"I am Avatar Zhong. The avatar before you."

Heiwa shook her head. "Chun said the avatar was a master of all four elements. I can barely bend two."

Korra smiled at her. "We all have to start somewhere."

"But I can't. I'm just a street kid!"

"Heiwa," Avatar Zhong said, stepping towards her. "You're twenty years old. The world needs its avatar."

"No!" she shouted, shaking her head. "This is too weird!"

Before either of the avatars could say anything else, Heiwa woke up with a start. She was lying between Pikatti and Ko, shivering in the rain. She noticed that everyone else was drenched as well, but no one had woken up. She sat up and bent the rain, letting it build up above them and run down on either side of the small group. She leaned over Ko and nudged Kiviuq awake.

"Wa?" he mumbled sleepily. Suddenly he noticed how wet they all were. "Dammit," he grumbled.

"Could you dry everyone off?" Heiwa asked. "You can go back to sleep after. I'll wake you up in a couple hours if it doesn't stop raining."

Kiviuq nodded and began to bend the rain out of his siblings' clothes. When he got to Heiwa he stopped. "Are you okay?" he asked. He must have caught the haunted look in her eye.

"Ya. Just a dream," she said. "Don't worry about me."

_It _was_ just a dream, right?_


	4. Dinner

"Foul!" the ref cried. Zhong watched the arena as his girlfriend gestured at the opposing team's waterbender.

"Come on," she yelled. "My tornado was less than two feet wide and you know it!"

"Too tall. Now get behind the line missy, or your team gets another penalty as well."

Ning huffed, but she backed up a zone anyway. Zhong was pretty sure the ref couldn't give Ning a penalty for complaining, but he also knew Ning was best off doing what the ref told her to do. The airbender quickly reached back and fixed her brown ponytail, which had been knocked askew by a shot of water from the opposing team. Her team wasn't winning, and Zhong could only guess it was because the referee wasn't nearly as impartial as he was supposed to be.

Zhong was doing his best to pay attention to the game, but his mind was understandably somewhere else. The conversation he'd had with Master Li and his parents the night before, for example. The White Lotus.

"Out!" the referee called, and Zhong noticed Ning's team's earthbender had been pushed out of the last zone. She stomped in frustration, but marched obediently to the bench as Ning and the other two remaining players did their best to dodge incoming attacks. Soon Ning and the firebender had both been pushed into the last zone, leaving their waterbender alone up front. Zhong watched him glance back nervously at his two teammates, a move that cost him the zone as he was shoved back by an earth disc.

Zhong was _not _going to have a happy girlfriend when all this was over.

Ning's team lost the match, unsurprisingly, and Zhong made his way towards the door to the change room while the rest of the spectators were abandoning the bleachers. When Ning emerged, she was glaring and adjusting her yellow t-shirt. Zhong looked up at her. When did she get so tall?

"You saw that, right? That ref was an ass." Ning leaned against the wall next to her and made a rude gesture towards the ref, who blessedly wasn't looking in their direction.

"Ya. He made some pretty bad calls."

"Pretty bad? My baby cousin could have made better calls than that!" She blew a puff of air out of her nose that sent a small whirlwind into the arena. It was time to defuse.

"Hey, I got you something," Zhong said, reaching into his backpack. He pulled out two parcels wrapped in green cloth and tied with white ribbon. Ning took the first one from him and smiled.

She quickly unwrapped it and threw the cloth over her shoulder so she could unravel what was inside. Zhong was quick to grab the cloth before it fell down her back and into the dirt. He shoved it back in his bag as Ning let out a cry of delight. "A Fire Ferret team jacket!" she cried. "I mean, who didn't love the Fire Ferrets? They had the Avatar on their team." Ning put the jacket on and turned around. Korra, Bolin, and Mako grinned at Zhong and it made the teenager uncomfortable. "How does it look?"

"Great," Zhong said. He handed her the second package. "Here."

The second gift was a pair of boots. "Ooo, Nagas. They're pretty ugly, but damn are they comfortable. Look at how fluffy they are inside!" Ning put the boots uncomfortably close to Zhong's face and he tried to back away.

"I know how fluffy they are," he said. "I bought them for you!" An avatar themed jacket? A pair of boots named after the avatar's polar bear dog? It was like past Zhong had made these choices specifically to make this moment confusing and uncomfortable for him.

"Zhong, what's wrong?"

Zhong blinked and noticed his girlfriend was staring at him with a worried expression. He wanted to tell her he was the avatar, but his brain kept telling him no. What if he told Ning he was the avatar, and then it turned out it was just a misunderstanding? Master Li had come to the wrong house and Zhong really was just some rich, spoiled brat. "Nothing's wrong," he said finally. He smiled half-heartedly. "I just don't need your smelly boots in my face."

Ning hit him in the arm with one of the boots. "How can they be smelly? I haven't even put them on yet!"

He took her by the hand and pulled her into a kiss. "Happy birthday," he said. He turned and led her out of the bending arena and out towards the street. "We're gonna stop by your house first before dinner. I think your parents want to see you before we head out."

But as she followed behind, he could feel her gaze boring into his skull. Zhong frowned.

By the time they got to dinner, Zhong knew Ning hadn't been convinced that he was okay. She'd barely complained to her parents about losing the bending match, and her excitement at opening her presents was minimal. Even now, as they sat in their formal attire in a private room of one of the fancier restaurants in Ba Sing Se, Ning was regarding her boyfriend with uncertain eyes.

"What?" he finally asked, after the waiter had left with their orders.

Ning crossed her arms. "What do you mean what? Something's bothering _you_, not me."

"Nothing's bothering me."

"Really? Because you've been acting weird since the match." Zhong glared, but didn't say anything. He saw his girlfriend's features soften as she leaned forward. "Please, Zhong. If something's bothering you, you need to tell me. We're in a relationship."

She was right, but Zhong still didn't want to answer. He settled for a partial truth. "My... parents want me to start metalbending training," he said.

Ning looked confused. "Well, that's good, right? You can go to the Tun school in the upper ring."

Zhong shook his head. "Master Li thinks I should have private training. He wants to send me to Zaofu."

"But... they can give you a private instructor at the Tun school." Ning looked worried. "Why would they send you to Zoafu?"

Zhong shrugged.

"You're not telling me everything."

Zhong should have known better than to hide the truth from Ning. She was sharp, and she cared for him, and that was a very bad combination for a reluctant avatar-to-be. He settled for a shrug, but of course that was the wrong response.

"Are you kidding me? It's my birthday, Zhong. At least have the decency to be honest with me. Now why does Master Li want to send you to Zaofu instead of the Tun school?"

It was useless. Zhong was going to feel completely foolish saying this next sentence but he had to get it out. Ning was unrelenting. The young man lowered his voice, despite the fact that they were completely alone in the room. "Master Li thinks I might, potentially... be the avatar. Maybe."

Ning had to lean forward to hear what he had to say, but when the message finally hit her, she sat back quietly. Then she snorted. "Nice try. What's the _real_ reason?"

Zhong glared. "That _is_ the real reason. Why do you think I didn't want to tell you? It's ridiculous! There's no way I'm the avatar."

"Well don't sell yourself short," Ning replied. She still bore the expression of someone who had been slapped in the face with an elephant koi, but at least she was discussing it with him. "You're a pretty talented earthbender."

"Pretty talented isn't exactly avatar material," Zhong said. He opened his mouth to continue, but at that moment a waiter came through the door with appetisers. He didn't want to be spreading word that the avatar was found, and figured it was better to keep his mouth shut around strangers until he'd figured this out. Ning, however, didn't seem to have the same reservations.

"Why is Master Li qualified for this avatar stuff anyway?" she asked as the waiter placed the food on the table. The man didn't seem to respond to the word 'avatar' though, and Zhong really hoped that wasn't because it was simply his job not to react to guest discussions.

"He's apparently a member of the White Lotus."

Ning sat quietly and picked at her food while the waiter left. Zhong was as tense as he could be, and wanted nothing more than to know exactly what was going through her head at that moment. Finally, she put her chopsticks down, having not taken a bite of anything.

"Okay, so say you're not the avatar. It's Master Li's job to do his best to find the avatar, and he's honed in on you for whatever reason. Isn't it kind of your responsibility as a citizen of the Earth Kingdom to help him? You do what he asks, he learns more about you, and the White Lotus is one step closer to finding the actually avatar after having ruled you out. Besides, what's the worst that could happen? You go to Zaofu, learn metalbending, and meet some kick-ass famous people?" She picked up the chopsticks again and stabbed at her food. "You'd be a fool not to do this."

"What if I wanted to go to university or something?"

Ning laughed. "I think your parents want you to go to university, but studies where never one of _your_ passions." Zhong stared at her blankly and Ning sighed. "You can go to university after the whole avatar thing has been sorted out. You're a Yoa! Nobody's going to deny you entrance."

She was right, and even though Zhong wanted nothing more than to hide in his room for the next year instead of moving to Zaofu, he probably shouldn't deny the White Lotus. The new avatar had to be found, and with the size of the Earth Kingdom and the cultural spread that had been experienced since the end of the 100 Year War, it was taking them quite a bit of time.

After he had finished about half of his appetizer, Zhong spoke again. "If I go to Zaofu," he said quietly. "Will you go with me?"

Ning stopped eat for a moment and Zhong immediately regretted the question. She was giving him that look. The look of pity. "You know what I want to do when the study year is up. I've been accepted into Ba Sing Se University. I'm not going to turn that down and you shouldn't ask me to."

Zhong shook his head. "I know, it was a stupid question. It's just, I don't want to live that far away from you."

Ning smiled. "You are such a softy. Besides, we'll get to see each other. Just not as often as we would like." Zhong stared at his food silently. "Zhong, we'll be fine."

Zhong nodded. But if he went to Zaofu, he didn't know how long he'd be gone. He really hoped Ning was right.


	5. Loss

"Heiwa, wake up!"

Heiwa jolted awake, slamming her head into the face of her twin sister who had been leaning over her.

"Ow..." Heiwa mumbled as Pikatti backed off, rubbing her sore forehead. There was something wrong and Heiwa was blinking lethargically trying to figure it out. Oh ya, it was raining. Heiwa yawned and tried to lay back down, but Nami grabbed her arm and pulled her back upright.

Wait, it wasn't raining, Heiwa was completely dry. The rain had stopped hours ago. There was, however, yelling.

Pikatti was shaking their other siblings awake as Heiwa came to her senses. She saw flashes of light coming from the street and heard the deep rumble of earth being shifted around.

_The White Lotus._

It was _always_ the White Lotus. None of them knew what exactly they were after, but if any of the siblings knew anything, it was that the White Lotus was bad news.

They'd killed many a member of Chun's gang, tearing apart the streets, searching for people. What kinds of people Heiwa didn't know, but she did know that she wanted nothing to do with it. Their parents had been caught in the crossfire of one of those searches.

"Let's get somewhere safe," said Pikatti. She was lifting a still groggy Massak to his feet and gesturing the others towards the street.

As one they darted out into the street, running away from where the fighting was taking place. They weren't the only ones making a run for it. Heiwa watched a man in front of them use a jet of air to propel himself over a half-wall into someone's backyard. Heiwa wished she could pull off an escape like that. Instead, she glanced back, just barely catching a stray shard of ice before it lodged itself in the back of Ko's skull. She flung the ice to the side, following it with her gaze. That's when she spotted someone tunnelling through a wall to her left using their earthbending.

"Pikatti, this way!" she shouted.

The siblings ran for the tunnel, ducking through it to emerge safely on the other side. The tunnel's creator was long gone, but it didn't matter. They were unlikely to get hit by any stray bending from over here. The siblings sagged against the wall.

"Sun's coming up," said Kiviuq. Heiwa glanced at the slowly brightening sky. There were still a few clouds left over from the night's rain, but the weather didn't look too bad.

"Damn it!" said Pikatti. "I left the last of our food in the ally!"

Collectively the siblings groaned. "I'm hungry," said Kiviuq.

"Me too," Ko piped up. She was hugging her stomach and huddling up to Nami. "What are we going to do?"

Pikatti rubbed a hand over her face. Heiwa noticed a red spot between her eyes from where the two of them had bashed heads and imagined she had an identical one to match. _That'll look good for our busking. Two identical siblings with two identical bruises!_ Right, busking!

"We should head out to our streets," Heiwa said. "The sooner we get money, the sooner we can eat."

"But I can't bend when I'm hungry!" wailed Kiviuq.

"I can't bend at all," chimed in Massak.

"Fair point young sir."

"Okay," Pikatti said. "We'll meet up at the ally in the evening. If, and let's hope this isn't the case, but if there's still fighting going on we'll meet up on Ju Avenue."

Everyone nodded their agreement and the siblings split off into two groups. Heiwa, Pikatti, and Massak headed in one direction while Nami, Kiviuq, and Ko headed in the other.

* * *

"So," Heiwa said as they turned another corner. Most of the streets they busked on were in the same direction, so they had plenty of time to figure out where exactly they were headed. "I was thinking we could head to the Down Street Market. I know some of the shop owners get a little uneasy with buskers there, but it's our biggest seller and we could _really_ use the money today..."

Massak was trailing behind them, adjusting his hat after a stray gust of wind had almost blown it off of his head. The twins slowed down as they waited for their youngest sibling to catch up. "I dunno," said Pikatti. "I was thinking Kawa Street would be a safer bet today."

"Kawa Street?! Nobody every gives us any money on Kawa!"

"Well, sure. But I have a good feeling about it today." Massak had finally caught back up and was sauntering ahead of his sisters. Pikatti went on. "Besides, there's a fountain in front of the library. You'll need to get water from _somewhere_."

At that moment Heiwa stepped in a fairly sizable puddle. After last night's rain, she wasn't too worried about finding water. Still, Pikatti was their lady in charge, and she was usually right about these kinds of things. Heiwa relented, and the three of them headed off towards the library.

* * *

Heiwa turned out to be right. Their attempts on Kawa Street proved fruitless. By the afternoon their busking bowl had no more than a few coins in it, and Heiwa was getting frustrated. Massak had wandered down the street out of boredom, something he did frequently if the sisters didn't plan on including him in their act. Heiwa didn't know what he was up to, she just hoped he wasn't getting himself into trouble. Besides, sometimes he'd come back with a few coins of his own. A young boy looking pathetic enough sitting on a curb sure brought out people's sympathy.

Pikatti had tired out a few minutes prior, and now the sisters were leaning against the wall of a small second hand clothing shop. The display over the shop's door depicted an image of two spirits holding paws. Occasionally they would turn their heads and smile at each other.

Heiwa bent over and picked up their bowl. "There's barely enough in here for a loaf of bread," she mumbled. Pikatti shrugged.

"We should find Massak," she said.

Heiwa wasn't happy. Pikatti's efforts had been practically non-existent. Heiwa felt she had done far more work than her sister all to make up for their less than satisfactory location, and all Pikatti could do was shrug? Yes, they would find Massak and then they would head over to Down Market and hope there were still enough people there to give them a few yuans.

Massak, as it turned out, wasn't too far down the street. He was sketching something on the ground with a stubby piece of white chalk that came from who knew where.

"Come on Massak, we're going to Down Market," said Heiwa.

"Uh, no we're not," said Pikatti, crossing her arms. "I know you can keep going forever, but I'm way too tired to keep bending."

"So what are we going to do then?" asked an irritated Heiwa.

"We'll head back," said Pikatti. "Pick up some food on the way. But first, I wanted to stop somewhere."

* * *

"No way," said Heiwa.

"Come on, you sounded pretty interested in the subject yesterday."

They were standing in front of the library.

"I'm not going in there."

"Come on, it's free."

It's not that Heiwa had a problem with reading, she just didn't like big public spaces. Dirty homeless kids wandering into a building like that? Usually they got kicked out. Often they got sneered at, or people crinkled their noses and made rude comments about the smell. The closest thing any of them had to a bath recently was last night's rain.

"Pikatti, I appreciate that you want to help me, and I want to learn more about my bending, really, but I'm not going in there."

"Can't we just get some food?" said Massak.

"Speaking of food, did you really pick the worst location for us to busk today because it was close to the _library?_ Pikatti, that's not okay. We're all hungry and I'm sure the others aren't going to be happy with what we bring back."

Pikatti sighed. "Fine, have it your way. We'll just head back and get yelled at by Nami. That sounds appealing."

"It's your doing," Heiwa countered. Pikatti was _so_ deserving of the glare she was getting right now.

"I'm still hungry," said Massak.

"Okay! Let's go."

The three of them started heading back in the direction of the ally. They stopped by a food cart on the way back and bought the plainest loaf of bread Heiwa had ever seen. Hopefully the others had fared better.

They ducked back through the tunnel they had escaped through that very morning. The street was quiet, many people having probably decided to avoid it for the time being. Heiwa wasn't too worried though. The White Lotus didn't usually stick around after a fight.

Far above, a small red spirit with fiery wings was perched atop a holographic advertisement for platinum infused microchips or something. Heiwa didn't understand technology all that well, and she didn't really care. She listened to the spirit chatter noisily as they came near. What she didn't hear was the chatter of their siblings as they got closer to the ally.

"I guess they're not back yet," said Pikatti.

"I guess," agreed Heiwa. But as they rounded the corner to the ally, Heiwa suddenly realised why it was so quiet.

The others _had_ returned, but they weren't alone. Chun and about eight other members of her gang were standing just inside the entrance to the ally. It was hard to see behind them, but Heiwa could just make out her two brothers lying on the ground. Her breath caught in her throat.

They weren't moving.

In front of them was Ko, who was on her hands and knees beaten, bloody, and crying. Three gang members hovered over her in attack stances as she sobbed. Chun glared coolly at the new arrivals. "Good, you're back," she said.

"What are you-"

Chun stepped sharply up to Pikatti and jammed a finger into her chest. "I _told_ you to stay out of our streets," she said. She stood on her toes, face inches away from Pikatti's. "You didn't listen."

Pikatti's breaths were rapid. "What? We didn't-"

"Then why were they," Chun pointed to the prone siblings. "...out in Cha square? That's _our_ area and you know it."

"What? No! They wouldn't-"

"They did."

Chun backed off and turned slightly to glance at the grubby girl sobbing on the ground. "And now you have to face the consequences."

"Pikatti, I'm sorry!" Ko wailed right before a spike of ice impaled her chest.

Heiwa couldn't breathe. Chun's gang was turning on them now but all she could hear was Pikatti's yelling and Massak's panicked shriek. Ko gasped for air, blood gurgling out of her throat.

Ko...

Two teenage boys were advancing on Heiwa, jets of fire burning in their fists.

Ko's panicked eyes stared at Heiwa as the young girl began to slump to the ground.

Chun was yelling something as Pikatti got into a fighting stance. Massak screamed.

Behind Ko, Heiwa caught a glimpse of Kiviuq's sightless eyes. He and Nami...

Heiwa growled. She turned on the approaching gang members with a fire in her eyes and watched them back up, startled. Heiwa didn't know what she was doing, it was instinct. She felt a gust of wind pick up around her, whipping Chun's hair around as the gang leader turned and stared.

"What the-"

But Heiwa wasn't paying attention to her. The metal walls of the buildings surrounding them rippled in response to her anger. She felt so... powerful.

"She's-" started one of the gang members as the others attempted to escape back into the ally. They only cornered themselves as Heiwa released a massive jet of fire above their heads that singed almost all of their hair. They had nowhere to go, and the wind was picking up. Panels from the surrounding walls were beginning to detach themselves, hovering in the air as though by magic. Heiwa didn't know how, but she could feel them.

Chun appeared to be paralysed.

The metal panels liquefied, swirling around the gang once before leaking over the ground. They tried to step out of the liquid metal but as feet were being pulled up, the metal was solidifying, trapping them. Soon each gang member was encased up to their waist in a silvery prison.

Chun, trapped in her own metal statue at the front of the group, finally overcame her shock. Eyes wide, she turned her head to look at her gang, each of whom was struggling valiantly to escape. "I can't believe it," she said. She turned her head back towards Heiwa, who was finally calming down somewhat.

"The White Lotus is going to love you."


	6. Testing

Ning and Zhong's graduation came much faster than either of them would have liked. While Ning appeared excited about starting a new stage in her life, Zhong didn't feel the same. They both knew it would be difficult once they were parted from one another.

They said their farewells at Zhong's house as the servants were loading his belongings into the car. The trip to Zoafu ended up being a boring one, with no girlfriend and no parents to accompany him. When Zhong finally arrived in Zaofu, he felt very alone.

The servants brought Zhong's belongings to his private room in Zaofu's elite metalbending school while Zhong was escorted to his orientation. He was lead to a large room with a rough stone floor and metal walls. There were no windows and once the door closed, the only lighting present came from a series of octagonal lamps that were hanging from the high ceiling.

The gathered group was small and appeared to be separated with teachers at the front of the room and students facing them in a line. Zhong quickly spotted Master Li who sent him a smile and a quick wink. Zhong averted his gaze and lined up with the other students next to a muscular girl with curly black hair. She glanced at him with a squint, but said nothing.

"Welcome to Zaofu's Elite Metalbending Academy," said a woman at the front of the group. "I am Master Bao and I am one of the head instructors here." Master Bao had her hands clasped behind her back as she surveyed the students in front of her with crisp blue eyes. "You have all been brought here today because you have shown incredible skill in earthbending. Members of the White Lotus have taken an interest in your abilities and as such it is our duty as teachers to help you all hone your skills. I'm sure it's no secret just who the White Lotus are looking for, but do _not_ get too full of yourselves. There is a lot of ground to cover in searching for the Avatar and this isn't the first class we've held with this intent."

The girl standing next to Zhong raised her hand. She held Master Bao's gaze unflinching as the instructor turned her attention to the young woman. "Yes?" Master Bao asked.

"When will we be seen by Master Guo?" the girl asked.

There was silence as the instructors turned to each other. One man leaned over to a woman on the far end and whispered something in her ear.

"Master Guo won't be seeing anyone," Master Li said. Someone snickered.

"What Li means to say, is that Master Guo will not be bothered by any of our students unless they have proven themselves to the instructors. Those of you who _do_ go on to see Master Guo will be our top candidates, but keep in mind that this still does not guarantee anything. You won't be the first students from our classes to be taught by him."

"How many students from these classes have been sent to him?" the girl persisted.

"Very few." The girl opened her mouth to ask another question but Master Bao continued her speech, apparently determined to get this orientation over with as quickly as possible. "Today we will be doing an initial assessment of your skill levels. You will start by sparring with one another, and as you do so, we will be pulling you aside for one-on-one assessments. There are enough of you here today to form groups of two, so pair up with someone, find a place, and get to work."

"So, they're not going to let us settle in first?" asked Zhong.

"Why waste time?" said the girl standing next to him. She cast a critical gaze over Zhong, which caused him to squirm, then she smiled. "So what do you say, fellow potential avatar, care for a fight?"

Master Bao's speech had actually calmed Zhong's nerves somewhat. Master Li had made it seem so positive that Zhong was the avatar, but what had all these other students been told if not the same thing? Maybe he'd get his butt whooped by this girl, and they wouldn't send him to see this Master Guo, and Zhong could go back home to his parents and Ning.

_Isn't it kind of your responsibility as a citizen of the Earth Kingdom to help him?_

Ning's words rang through Zhong's head before the thought of going easy in this fight even had a chance to form. He would have to give it his best, and if he failed then even better. If he succeeded though...

The girl introduced herself as Liu Shi and the two of them got changed into sparring clothes before facing each other and giving a polite bow. She didn't wait very long to throw the first attack.

It was a good thing the room was so massive, because otherwise four simultaneous earthbending matches would have gotten very messy. As it was, they still had to dodge the occasional stray rock from their fellow students as they launched their own attacks at one another.

Liu Shi was fast and direct. It was almost more of a challenge to fight her than it was to fight Master Li. Zhong found himself narrowly avoiding attack after attack as he himself lifted chunks of rock from the ground and hurled them at his opponent. But she appeared to not be content with a narrow tie. Liu Shi lifted a mound of rock under his foot, destabilizing Zhong's stance and causing him to fall back. This, of course, stuck him right in the center of another sparring match.

One of the other students had just flung a rock at her opponent, but with Zhong's sudden arrival, it was now aimed at his head. Zhong quickly re-directed the rock so it was flying towards Liu Shi, much to the displeasure of the rock's original bender.

Liu Shi side-stepped the attack and heavily stomped one foot, lifting the ground behind Zhong to create a sizable wall that blocked any quick escape. Zhong wasn't planning on running away though, and instead pulled out chunks of the wall and threw them at Liu Shi, who dodged agilely.

The other students were scattering as Zhong and his opponent spread destruction across the massive room. The ground shook violently, giant cracks having formed at their feet. Liu Shi was flinging pebbles at incredible speeds so that others had to dodge or hide behind boulders to avoid being struck. Zhong wasn't so easily caught off guard, pulling up barriers to protect himself as he threw large chunks of the floor at his opponent from all sides. He was perspiring heavily and gasping for breath as she forced him to work harder than he had in a training session since, well, ever.

And Zhong found he was enjoying the challenge for once in his life.

That was, until the ground shook so violently that Zhong almost lost his footing again. Liu Shi stumbled forwards, a shocked expression flashing across her face, before a barrier of rock rose from the ground and separated them. It extended from wall to wall, forcing Zhong to step back and catch his breath. The barrier descended almost as quickly as it had appeared and Zhong caught sight of the teachers, standing behind Liu Shi, as they too lowered their stance. Apparently the fight was over.

"Congratulations," said Bao as she lowered her arms. "I don't think we've ever found candidates quite this quickly."

Even with her shoulders heaving as she caught her breath, Liu Shi smirked. "We'll be seeing... Master Guo... then?" she asked.

* * *

Master Guo was in the library when they were brought to him. Zhong wondered if he would be expecting them, given they were being taken directly from their sparring match with what appeared to be no notice. He hoped Master Guo wasn't the type to hate interruptions.

The four of them strode into the large room after a lengthy walk through the courtyard, past the power disk arena. Zhong and Liu Shi stood next to each other as they entered the room behind Masters Bao and Li. The tall metallic bookshelves towered above them, brightly lit by sunlight that streamed into the library through windows that spanned an entire wall. Zhong could smell the dust that floated through the air, but he didn't have much time to take in the ambiance, because they were quickly being led down an aisle to their left. The aisle ended at a metal door which, once opened, revealed a dimly lit room with one curtained window.

Guo Beifong was sitting at a desk in the middle of the room, his cloudy green eyes staring blankly about a foot past the book he was in the process of reading. His leathery, calloused fingers ran across the page with practiced grace as the four newcomers filtered into the room.

"You two must be very good," he said without missing a beat. "Or they wouldn't have had you interrupt my reading. Really, Bao. You know I like my stories."

"My apologies, Guo. These two completely tore up the training room. I wasn't sure if you were watching or not..." Bao trailed off as Guo reached a hand across the desk to grab a bookmark.

"I wasn't," he responded. "But it must have been impressive." He was taking his time placing the bookmark in the book. He carefully closed it, and slid it across the desk before standing from the metal chair he was sitting on. As he strode around the desk, Zhong noticed that below his loose fitting green dress pants, Guo was, oddly, barefoot.

"Well, you've both certainly got the build for earthbenders," he said as he stood in front of the new arrivals. His wrinkled mouth curled into a smile. "That should translate _very_ well into metalbending. Now what's _your_ problem?" The man's head had turned ever so slightly in Liu Shi's direction. It was then that Zhong noticed the completely awe-struck expression that had crossed the girl's features.

"It's just... I..." Zhong could hear her excited breaths, but her back remained straight as the girl attempted to appear professional in the older master's presence. Zhong suddenly understood. She was a _fan_.

"I've followed your career closely, Mister Beifong! I just, I've seen you play on TV and in person... Your match in '68 against Xun was exceptional! There hasn't been a player like you since you retired." There was a slight quiver in Liu Shi's voice. It was barely perceptible, but Zhong caught it, and he was certain the metalbending master had caught it as well.

"A power disk fan!" the master replied with a wide grin. "That's good! We'll have you playing in no time."

Zhong could have sworn Liu Shi's heart stopped. Her eyes grew wide and she seemed to stop breathing for a moment.

"Are you going to train both of us?" Zhong asked, diverting attention away from the star-struck Liu Shi. She would probably thank him for it later. "It's just, I've heard you don't usually..."

"You can stop staring at my feet, young man. I'm blind. I use them to see." Zhong quickly snapped his gaze back to the man's face. "It seems to run in the family, I'm afraid. But to answer your question, yes. You see, I appear to have inherited the Beifong Family Curse."

Zhong stared into the man's hazy eyes. He couldn't mean...

"Yes, once again, a member of the Beifong family is stuck teaching the avatar to bend! Ah well, it doesn't matter to me which one of you it is. We'll start, the three of us, tomorrow morning in the power disk arena." He turned back to his desk and grabbed the book he had been reading as he walked past.

"Now get yourselves settled in. You'll want to be well rested by the time we get started. We Beifongs aren't known for going easy on the avatar."


	7. The Library

She hadn't been able to dig Kiviuq and Nami out of the solidified metal. Her fingers were beaten bloody on the hard metallic surface, but whatever force had allowed her to control it had disappeared. It didn't matter. Her brothers were dead.

Chun and her gang jeered at them the entire time. Shouting and calling for the authorities as the distraught siblings tried to overcome their shock and despair. Eventually Heiwa scooped up an unconscious Ko and the other two followed her as she sprinted out of the alley, Chun's voice following them as she screamed for the White Lotus to come and take the Avatar away.

"Ko, wake up," Heiwa sobbed. She was clutching her little sister's body to her chest, her bloody hands wiping a sticky strand of hair away from the younger girl's closed eyes. Ko's breathing was very shallow, and it was getting shallower.

"Can you heal her?" asked Massak. He'd stopped crying not long after they'd settled into the new alley, the four of them hiding behind a pile of storage crates so that they couldn't be seen. He had wet streaks running through the dirt on his face, his eyes were red from crying.

"How would I heal her?" Heiwa asked in a quiet voice. There was a hitch in her breath as she wiped Ko's cheek with a grubby thumb. "Wake up, Ko. Please?"

"Someone told me waterbenders can heal people," Massak continued. How could he be so calm? Even Pikatti was huddled away from them, hugging herself and shaking. Heiwa distantly heard her twin make a distressed choking noise.

"Who told you that?"

"Just someone."

Ko's breaths had all but disappeared. Heiwa couldn't quite place how she was doing it, but she could feel the younger girl's heart beating weakly. Erratically. Not with her hands though. She could feel it with her back pressed against the wall, and with her legs, curled up on the rough concrete.

"I don't know how to do that. I don't think I can."

"You made the walls melt," Massak said flatly. She had, but she didn't know how she had done it.

"It doesn't matter," came Pikatti's hoarse voice. It took a lot of effort for Heiwa to tear her gaze away from the girl laying in her lap, but she managed. Pikatti was glaring daggers. Like her brother, her eyes were red from crying. Unlike her brother, the tears were still falling. "She's dead."

"No," Heiwa responded defensively. "She's still-"

"It doesn't matter if she still breathing, or her heart's still beating. She's dead. Or she will be. She can't," Pikatti choked on her next words. "She can't survive that."

Heiwa wanted to scream at her sister, but she knew Pikatti was right. Ko was fading fast, and there wasn't anything any of them could do about it. Ko had closed her eyes from the last time back in that alley, and she was never waking up again.

"Can I hold her?" asked Massak quietly.

Heiwa didn't want to let go of the young girl in her arms, but due to their similar ages, Massak and Ko had been very close. She couldn't deny him, so she reached an arm around her little brother and pulled him close, letting the boy wrap one trembling arm around Ko's body.

They stayed like that as Ko's breathing grew weaker, and her heartbeat began to fade. "Pikatti," Heiwa said, when she knew their wasn't much time left. Despite her distress, Pikatti reached back a hand and let it lay on Ko's leg.

And then she was gone.

After a long silence, Heiwa swallowed thickly. "What now?"

"We need to figure out what to do with _you_," came Pikatti's low voice.

"I don't-"

"How did you do it?" Pikatti asked. Massak looked between the twins, his eyes fresh with tears.

"I don't know," Heiwa responded. "It just happened."

"You're _The Avatar_, whatever that means. And Chun seemed damn sure the White Lotus was going to want you. We need to figure out what that's going to mean for us."

"But what about Ko?" asked Massak, his voice frail. Pikatti's expression softened.

"We'll..." she seemed to think for a moment, her watery eyes staring at Ko's still body. "We'll take her out of the city. Bury her."

Massak nodded.

"And Nami? Kiviuq?" said Heiwa. "We can't go back for them..."

"I know."

Heiwa began to lift Ko's body, but Pikatti got up quickly and held her down by the shoulder.

"You're not going to like this," she said. "But the two of us need to go somewhere first."

They got cleaned up in a puddle at the end of the alley. Massak was standing guard over Ko's body as Heiwa did her best to get the blood out of her clothes with her waterbending. Eventually they left the boy alone in the alley, his only companion being the still body of his late sister.

As the two of them stood in front of the library, Heiwa took note of her sister. Despite her best attempts, she was still filthy. Pikatti had managed to avoid getting too much blood on her, but there was mud smeared on her forehead and her once cream coloured shirt was torn and browned.

"We're going to get kicked out," Heiwa stated.

"Maybe, but with any luck they'll take their sweet time trying to muster up the courage to actually do it."

"What exactly do you expect us to do in there?" Heiwa asked, frowning.

"Come on." Pikatti grabbed her roughly by the arm and dragged Heiwa up the stairs. Once inside the library, the large wooden doors creaked shut behind them and the two sisters found themselves in a massive room full of tables. The air was warm and the walls to the side were lined with shelves covered in books. She stared up at the high ceiling and the second level of books and doors, circling around the main room.

"Wow," Heiwa said.

"We'll go to one of the ones in the back," Pikatti said. She led the way towards one of the tables at the back of the room, passing a man who was sitting behind a desk by the entrance and watching them nervously. As they walked through the rows of tables, Heiwa noticed that each table seemed to have tablets of some kind on them. They didn't emit any kind of light, but each one had a flickering image on it, displaying different book covers and pictures. People at the tables were flipping through the pages by swiping a finger across the screen.

Heiwa was pushed into a seat by her sister who then sat down next to her. One of the tablets sat on the table in front of them and Heiwa picked it up carefully.

"How does it work?" she asked.

"No idea," Pikatti responded. "This is my first time coming in here."

Heiwa poked at the screen with a finger and watched the display of book covers disappear. In its place was a blank rectangle with the word "search" next to it.

"Avatar," Pikatti said. "Look up the word _Avatar_."

Heiwa typed in the word using a display of letters at the bottom of the screen. It changed once again, showing a list of titles.

"The Avatar Cycle," Heiwa read quietly. "Avatar History Before Korra, Avatar Aang and the Hundred Year War, Avatar Korra Standardised Pai Sho Rules..."

"The Avatar Cycle sounds promising, plus it's at the top of the search. That must mean something, right?" Pikatti tapped at the screen, her hand coming inches from swatting Heiwa in the nose as she reached over her sister.

_It is believed that the Avatar Cycle was created by the spirits in order to bring harmony to the four nations. While benders can only bend their natural element, the Avatar's ability to learn all four elements allows them to act on behalf of the entire world, rather than only their native land. The cycle ensures that the Avatar does not have more of a link to any one nation..._

"Could be useful," Heiwa muttered. Benders could only bend one element? But Heiwa could bend two. Chun had seemed convinced...

She pulled her attention away from the words in front of her to watch the librarian, who now had his eyes narrowed. He hadn't gotten up from his seat. "He probably won't let us take this out of the library, will he."

"Probably not," Pikatti responded. She was swiping through the pages again, apparently having figured out how the damn thing worked. Heiwa just let her sister take over as she glanced around the room.

"I wonder if we can find these books on the shelves," she said.

"There are sections listed next to some of them," Pikatti said. "I'll just come up with a list of the books we should look for... Do you see an area titled _World History_? Or maybe _Bending Arts_? Looks like this book is in both of them..."

With the librarian still eying them suspiciously, Heiwa and Pikatti ducked into the World History section of the library, which was luckily not far from where they had been sitting. The plan was to grab a few of the books and make a run for it before the librarian could stop them. A library wasn't likely to have very strict security, and neither of them figured the librarian was likely to let them take the books out, so talking to him would be a waste.

They grabbed _The Avatar Cycle_, _Avatar History Before Korra,_ _The Life of Avatar Zhong_, and a book called _Bending the Elements_ that was supposed to describe ancient bending techniques. Once they had snuck around the backs of the aisles to get as close to the door as possible, they peeked around a shelf to make sure the librarian wasn't watching them. He seemed to be peering off towards the shelves at the back as though he was looking for something, which meant he _wasn't_ looking at them.

"Go!" hissed Pikatti.

With books hidden under the front of her shirt, Heiwa strolled towards the door, her gaze glued to the librarian and her back stiff with fear. Behind her Pikatti followed, her own loot stashed away tightly under her bosom. The librarian continued to be oblivious to their attempted escape as they neared the door. Soon they were close enough that Heiwa reached an arm out for the door handle.

As soon as her hand touched the handle an alarm began to blare. Pikatti's eyes grew wide and Heiwa's heart almost stopped. The librarian turned suddenly, his eyes on fire.

"Hey!" He shouted.

"Run!" shouted Pikatti from behind her.

With startled patrons watching them, Heiwa wasted no time in following her sister's order. She'd shoved her way through the door, somehow breaking through the metal lock that had activated itself when the alarm went off, and the two of them were barrelling down the main steps before the librarian could get himself properly out of his chair.

"What set the alarm off?!" Heiwa shouted to her sister as they ran around a corner. No one was following them yet, but they weren't going to wait around for the authorities to show up.

"Probably the books!" Pikatti responded.

"Do you think they can track them?"

"I don't know, keep moving!"

They ran at full speed down the street, turning swiftly to the right and making a left at the next street. The two girls continued to zigzag their way through the streets for a small while in an attempt to shake off any potential followers. Heiwa's heart pounded heavily. This was the first time she and her sister had ever resorted to stealing anything! She was exhausted, and hungry, and her thoughts travelled to the dead eyes of her brothers, to her baby sister lying motionless in her arms. She stopped running, knowing that nobody was chasing them, and Pikatti almost collided with her. Heiwa tried to blink the tears out of her eyes.

"Hey..." she felt her sister's hand on her shoulder, her kind face peering at her from behind. But whatever comfort Pikatti had been about to impart on her sister was interrupted by a loud hiss from a nearby alley.

"What the-" Heiwa couldn't believe what she was seeing. A group of teenagers was throwing rocks at a dangerously thin pygmy puma that was pacing back and forth in the entrance of the alley. Its fur was standing on end, ears pressed flat against the side of its head. The puma was bleeding from many cuts and scrapes that muddied its slick fur and it snarled at the teens who were standing next to a quivering youngling. But that wasn't what had gotten Heiwa's blood boiling.

After everything Heiwa had gone through today, from waking up to the White Lotus, losing half of her siblings in mere moments, navigating this whole confusing ordeal about the avatar... seeing that small puma shaking and mewling at the teens' feet, curled up on the ground near what had probably once been its siblings...

And the kids were laughing.

Heiwa growled. Fury built in her chest and before she knew it she had punched a jet of fire into the alley, narrowly avoiding hitting one of the teens in the head. The startled teens jumped out of the way, one of them pressing himself flat up against the wall in an attempt to avoid the second jet of fire that Heiwa was sending their way.

"Heiwa stop!" Pikatti shouted.

"What the bloodmoon?!" one of the teens yelled.

Heiwa lowered her arms, but the glare she sent into the alley had the three youngsters squirming uncomfortably.

"They're vermin," said the only girl in the group, as though that somehow validated what they were doing. The mother puma hissed.

"And that gives you the right to torture them?" Heiwa asked hotly. She could feel the fire in her breath as she exhaled and knew she was dangerously close to roasting someone.

There was a long pause as the teenagers seemed to contemplate their options. They had, at their feet, three dead pygmy pumas and one terrified cub. In front of them, blocking the only exit, was the mother of all four, and a _very_ angry looking set of twins. One of the boys frowned as he looked at them, his head tilting slightly to the side.

"Aren't you those homeless bending twins?" he asked suddenly.

"What of it?" Heiwa spat.

"I don't know why, but the White Lotus is looking for you," he responded, but Heiwa had had enough of listening to this group.

"Get out of here!" she shouted.

All three of the teenagers jumped, startled, and made a break for the entrance of the alley. The mother pygmy puma made a swipe at their legs as they passed but she quickly abandoned the attack in order to comfort her cub.

Heiwa watched as the larger cat sniffed around the still forms of her offspring, mewling pathetically as she did so. The still living cub huddled under her legs, shivering.

It was almost too much for Heiwa, who only realised she was crying when the first tear dislodged itself from her chin. Pikatti wrapped her arms around her sister and Heiwa leaned in, sobbing into Pikatti's shirt.

"We need to leave the city," Pikatti said. Her voice choked slightly and was muffled by Heiwa's hair.

"I know," Heiwa said through a sob. She pulled out of the hug and tried to wipe as much of the wetness away from her eyes with a grubby sleeve. Pikatti's own face was wet from crying, but it didn't matter.

In the alley, the pygmy puma looked at them with pleading eyes.

"Let's go back for Massak and Ko," Pikatti said. "Then we'll get out of here."

"Where will we go?" Heiwa asked.

"Anywhere the White Lotus isn't."


End file.
